A family-owned daily newspaper serving Riverton, Lander and Fremont County, Wyoming since 1949

Digest

Apr 12, 2013 - The Associated Press

Man dies after Casper arrest

CASPER -- Casper police say a 47-year-old man died after being taken into custody during a domestic dispute call.

Natrona County Coroner Connie Jacobson says an autopsy is being done to determine cause of death.

Police Chief Chris Walsh said in a statement issued Thursday that the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will conduct an investigation into the death of Richard Smith Jr.

Walsh said officers were called about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a report of a family fight.

He said officers arrested Smith for family violence.

Walsh says Smith resisted the officers during his arrest and, after handcuffing Smith, officers discovered he had stopped breathing. Walsh said Smith later died at the hospital.

Five fined for cruelty at hog farm

CHEYENNE -- Five former employees of a hog farm in Wheatland have been convicted of multiple counts of animal cruelty and sentenced to probation and fines.

Four of the five were fined $530.

The charges were filed as a result of an undercover investigation last spring by The Humane Society of the United States, which disclosed employee abuse of pigs and piglets. The organization posted video of workers kicking live piglets like soccer balls, striking pigs with their fists and kicking them when they showed reluctance to leave their offspring.

A total of nine former employees at the Wheatland hog processing farm were charged in late December.

All had been terminated from their jobs by the time charges were filed.

SLIB grants approved

CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board has approved about $8 million in grants to help communities around the state with economic development and community projects.

The board on Thursday approved $4 million in Business Ready Community grant requests and $4.4 million in Community Facility Program grants.

The largest grant awarded was $2.25 million to Laramie County to help expand a data center. It also approved $1.5 million to improve a 12-mile road in Sweetwater County that leads to a planned uranium mine.

The State Loan and Investment Board is made up of the five statewide elected officials: Gov. Matt Mead, Secretary of State Max Maxfield, State Treasurer Mark Gordon, State Auditor Cynthia Cloud, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill.